Indian Cinema and Society

This course provides a historical and thematic introduction to the variety of films that constitute a “national” cinema of “India,” with a particular focus on Hindi popular cinema. We will begin by considering the cultural backgrounds of Hindi cinema, including the translation of traditional forms through modern technology such as the mythological, and move on to exploring in the post-independence context: the genres of the national epic, the courtesan film, the historical, parallel film, the social, the masala, and the romance. We will also consider the relationship between particular regional cinemas and Bollywood. Finally, we will conclude by examining Hindi cinema within the context of globalization and changes that distribution, marketing, and thematic shifts herald by considering the roles that the diaspora, neo-liberal economic policy, consumerism, and trans-nationalism play in producing new genres such as Bombay noir and the new wave. Three themes will organize our study: the nation, the public, and gender, particularly as it is constitutive of the previous two. Our study will expose is to various theories of the study of culture but will emphasize methods which will fall under the rubric of cultural studies. By the end of this course, students should be able to write and analyze film critically and consider its role in relation to other contexts such as society.